Every autumn, a remarkable migration begins. From as far north as Canada and the northern United States, delicate Monarch butterflies embark on a journey spanning up to 4,000 kilometres. Guided not by memory, for no single butterfly makes the round trip, but by instinct encoded deep in their being, they find their way to the same forests of central Mexico that their ancestors knew.
By late November, the high-altitude oyamel fir forests of Michoacán and the State of Mexico transform into sanctuaries. Here, in reserves such as El Rosario and Sierra Chincua, the Monarchs gather in the millions. The air grows heavy with wings. Branches bend beneath their weight. A single step into the forest feels like stepping into a cathedral, where silence is broken only by the whisper of countless butterflies taking flight as the morning sun warms the canopy.
The Monarchs’ lives are a cycle of fragility and resilience. Those that arrive in Mexico are part of the “Methuselah generation,” living up to eight months, far longer than their summer-born ancestors who live only weeks. In Mexico, they find refuge: a place to conserve energy through the cool season, to drink from mountain streams, and to wait until spring calls them north again. Their very survival depends on these forests. Without them, the cycle would end.
Visiting the sanctuaries is both humbling and profound. It is not a spectacle arranged for human eyes, but a natural drama playing out as it has for millennia. Watching the Monarchs is to be reminded of the delicate balance that binds life across continents, and the responsibility we share to protect it.
And while documentaries can capture the beauty of this migration, nothing compares to standing among the oyamel trees yourself, feeling the brush of wings against your skin, and witnessing the living river of orange and black.
Come walk these forest trails with me. Let me take you to the heart of the Monarch sanctuaries, where nature speaks in wings and silence, and where every visitor leaves transformed.
Carlos.
for the Monarch tour would march 10 be too late to go ?